Android file transfer: How to move information between your telephone and computer

Moving files betwixt your Android device and a Windows PC, Mac, or Chromebook doesn't accept to exist difficult — or dependent on any deject services.

Contributing Editor, Computerworld |

Table of Contents
  • Android file transfers for Windows computers
  • Android file transfers for Mac computers
  • Android file transfers for Chrome OS computers
  • Don't like cables?

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Your smartphone is a powerful computer in your pocket — and with Android, role of that PC-like musculus ways existence able to plug your telephone into any Windows, Mac, or Chrome Os organisation and and so elevate and drop files either way.

Unlike iPhones, Android devices allow y'all to admission their file systems directly from a desktop, without the demand for any cumbersome interfaces or complicated procedures. In fact, transferring files to or from an Android device is basically no different than plugging an external hard drive into your computer and moving information to or from it.

All you need is your phone, your computer, and a cablevision to connect 'em — with micro-USB or USB-C on the phone side and USB-A or USB-C on the computer side, depending on the specifics of your devices. (Near current Android phones utilize USB-C, whereas nearly pre-2016 devices take the older micro-USB standard. USB-A, meanwhile, is the traditional connector port you're used to seeing on computers, though more and more than models now also offer USB-C.) There's a decent chance that the same cable that connects your phone to its wall charger will work.

Got it? Good. Here's what you need to do side by side, depending on whether you have a Windows, macOS, or Chrome Os organisation:

Android file transfers for Windows computers

With Windows, things are equally elementary as can exist. Just plug your phone into whatsoever open USB port on the computer, so turn on your telephone's screen and unlock the device.

Swipe your finger down from the meridian of the screen, and yous should meet a notification about the current USB connexion. At this point, it'll probably tell yous your phone is connected merely for charging.

android file transfer usb notification JR Raphael/IDG

After you connect your phone to your computer, a notification will allow you fix it for transferring files.

Tap the notification and select "Transfer files" or "File transfer" in the menu that appears. If media files are all you're planning to movement, y'all could also apply the "Transfer photos" (sometimes listed every bit "PTP") option, which'll treat your telephone like a digital camera. Once you've made your selection, become to your desktop and open up a File Explorer window using the method that makes the nigh sense for your Windows configuration:

  • Click the File Explorer icon in your taskbar
  • Open the Beginning menu and click This PC or Computer
  • Click the This PC, Computer, or My Computer icon on your desktop

Then expect for an icon representing your phone alongside other portable devices and drives. Click or double-click that icon, and ta-da! Yous're staring at your Android phone's internal storage. You can now click around and scan folders, drag and driblet files between your telephone and PC, or manipulate the data in any way you want.

android file transfer windows JR Raphael/IDG

Your Android phone's storage looks like any regular hard drive when viewed from a figurer.

Android file transfers for Mac computers

Got a Mac? The Android file transfer process is a scrap more complicated for you — but fright not, for information technology'due south still pretty darn easy.

The chief difference is that before things will work, you lot'll need to download and install an official Google plan called Android File Transfer. To use the program, your Mac must exist running macOS x.vii or later, and your Android device must have Android 3.0 or later — something that should pretty much be a given with any reasonably recent Android production.

Once the plan'southward in place on your Mac, just plug your phone into your computer, plough on your phone'south screen and unlock the device, and so look for the same USB status notification described above.

Tap the notification and select "Transfer files" or "File transfer." The Android File Transfer program should then automatically open on your Mac, and you should exist able to browse your phone's storage and transfer files to your heart's content.

If the official Android File Transfer program doesn't work well for you — a vexingly mutual complaint among Mac users these days — consider the favorably reviewed tertiary-party Commander One Pro as an alternative. It costs $30 for a unmarried license, $100 for a v-user team license, or $150 for a fifty-user company license.

Or — well, skip down to the terminal department of this story for i other option.

Android file transfers for Chrome OS computers

Y'all'd expect file transfers between Android phones and Chromebooks to exist as unproblematic as can be, considering that Google's the driving force behind both of those operating systems — and by golly, y'all'd be absolutely correct.

Merely similar on a Windows system, all you lot've gotta exercise to connect your Android phone to a Chromebook is plug information technology into whatsoever open USB port, so tap the USB charging notification on the phone and select either "Transfer files" or "File transfer" from the prompt that appears — or select "Transfer photos" or "PTP" if you want your telephone to be treated like a camera, with a focus exclusively on multimedia files.

Once you practise that, the Chrome Bone Files app should automatically appear on your Chromebook with your telephone present as i of the storage options. The system will probably even prompt you to back up all of your telephone's media files to Google Drive; y'all tin permit that, if you'd like, or dismiss it and but drag and drop files in either direction as needed.

android file transfer chrome os JR Raphael/IDG

Pulling up your Android phone's storage on a Chromebook is easy equally tin can be — and typically includes a one-click option to re-create all your device'south media files as well.

In that location'south actually not much to it — nor should there be.

And if you desire an even simpler way to take care of business...

Don't like cables?

Hey, wait a infinitesimal — aren't there apps and cloud services for this sort of thing? Sure there are, and we've got you covered at that place, as well. Check out "Transferring files wirelessly between devices" in our in-depth Android file management guide for everything in that location is to know.

This commodity was initially published in Baronial 2017 and updated in Oct 2019.

Contributing Editor JR Raphael serves up tasty morsels about the man side of technology. Hungry for more? Join him on Twitter or sign up for his weekly newsletter to go fresh tips and insight in your inbox every Friday.

Copyright © 2019 IDG Communications, Inc.